


Verdict

by mneiai



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Pre-Explosion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 07:51:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8004388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mneiai/pseuds/mneiai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack wanted more and he thought that Jesse did, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Verdict

It felt like a secret.

Jack knew it couldn't be, with the amount of eyes on him. With the surveillance he knew Blackwatch kept up despite his protests, half of Overwatch would know. But there was something clandestine in his dates with McCree, something that felt almost forbidden. Maybe it was knowing how Gabriel favored Jesse, how he might feel when he found out. Maybe it was that Jack just never did this, he never let himself have relationships.

They stayed away from the places near headquarters where they would be too easily recognized, slipping entire neighborhoods away for dinner, for drinks. Once they tried dancing, both laughing at how little the other fit in at the popular club they'd chosen. Maybe that's what he liked best about Jesse--he never took himself too seriously, and being around him loosened Jack up, too. No matter how much stress Jack was under, Jesse could always make him feel better.

It was almost casual for months and months, between Jesse's dangerous missions and the mind-numbing meetings and events Jack was dragged to as Strike Commander. But Jack wanted more and he thought that Jesse did, too.

The decision to ask him to move in seemed silly. After all, they lived in the same barracks already, a section and a few floors away, but the same. Jack had never bothered with settling in his own place and Overwatch provided him suites at all the larger bases, after all. Yet it felt huge to Jack, something he'd never asked of anyone else (a trial run, to see if something more might be possible, a bigger question with bigger risks for Jack's heart).

Jesse seemed nervous, too, that night, pulling apart the slice of bread on his plate as they waited for dinner to arrive, looking everywhere but Jack. The little ticks were all there, so familiar to Jack from hours of watching Jesse, too fascinated by even the mundane parts of his lover to look away. He thought maybe Jesse was going to ask that other question, was brash enough to throw himself into it, and with equal nervousness he told Jesse to go first.

The rest of the night was a blur. Jack had feigned a call from the office and a sudden emergency to slip away towards the end of their meal. He felt shaky, though he knew from years of practice he'd still seem confident and calm to anyone around him.

With the excuse came the ease of staying locked in his office the entire next day, ignoring the concern and confusion from everyone around him. He'd done this before, Jesse would assume it was normal. And it wasn't like he didn't have paperwork to attend to--Jesse's resignation one part of it. 

"I don't think Blackwatch is healthy for me, anymore," he'd started, and Jack's mood had shifted from excitement to concern. He'd suggested a transfer, knowing that many of their branches could benefit from Jesse's skills (and if they couldn't right now, Jack could find a way).

"I don't think Overwatch is, at all," was the follow-up. "I've served my sentence, you can't deny me that. It's about time I moved on."

'Sentence', like this was still all about not going to prison. Like Overwatch had never become his home, Gabriel his mentor, Jack his boyfriend. Like it could be thrown aside as soon as it was over. Jack hadn't fought him, despair washing away any excuses he could have come up with. 

He'd told him he'd have Jesse out in a week. Something had flashed in Jesse's eyes at the coldness in Jack's tone, but he hadn't been able to interpret it. He couldn't think. He couldn't deal. 

Jesse left without much pomp, burning most of his bridges on his way out. He stayed in Jack's thoughts, though, as Overwatch began to crumble and he wondered what Jesse would tell him, if he'd be there at his office late at night cajoling him to finally get some sleep or sitting there pretending he knew what Jack was talking about as Jack talked at him to try to work through an issue. 

Most of all, as explosions rocked the building, as the basement collapsed in, burying the section Blackwatch had been housed for so long, he was just glad that Jesse must have had some premonition, must have predicted how much of a fuck up Jack could be, and had fled when he had the chance.


End file.
